Puri Jagannadh proved that he regained some of his lost mojo through the mass entertainer iSmart Shankar. But in Romantic, wherein he provided the story, screenplay, and dialogues, is an assault on our senses with a string of tired cliches that you had seen in his previous films such as 143, Pokiri, and Heart Attack. The film is intended as a rom-com as much as it is a gangster drama, even if the comedy moves between double- meaning dialogues, regressive and plain pedestrian slang. Akash Puri is Vasco De Gama, a vagabond and a ruffian with his heart in the right place.
He is determined to go out of his way to earn money and has many ideas up his sleeve that even if he is caught by the police, he cleverly escapes from the situation by selling stories and giving enough gyaan, besides justifying why he joined the crime syndicate. As you might have guessed, he has a sentimental flashback about why and how he is greedy for money. Leading a life of crime, he runs into Monika (Ketika Sharma), the sister of a police officer, Jhon (Uttej), and continues to stalk her to express his feelings for her while kissing, hugging and caressing her.
The irony is that she is somehow fine with these as he is the most-wanted person for her! Then we have a funny gangster kingpin Samson (Makrand Deshpande) , adoting grandmother Mary (Rama Prabha), a publicity greedy artist Kathy (Sunaina) and an upright Assistant Commissioner of Police Ramya Gowa r ike r (Ramya Krishnan), who is after Vasco and also narrates his starcrossed love story. On paper, Puri Jagannadh offers spoiled characters that aren’t hard to empathise with.
But the moment you find yourself becoming involved with a character, the screenplay takes a quick turn onto the next, leaving you ultimately disconnected from their sufferings. The action scenes and never-ending gun fights bring a video game-ish monotony to it. The flashback and the motives of the protagonist too are laughably silly that it’s hard to take them seriously. The film also lacks a compelling villain, whose presence might have brought a real sense of danger to the proceedings. Ten minutes into the first half, it appears that the script is playing second fiddle to the notorious gangster drama –from sharp editing and edgy cinematography to a pulsating background score.
However, as the film progresses, the film requires that you apply neither common sense nor logic. Romantic does have its moments, but they are few and far between. For the most part, you are willing to laugh at even a handful of juvenile jokes that are ridiculously compiled. What’s not funny is the loud and over-the-type style of dialogue which seems to have become a trademark of Puri Jagannadh’s films. Despite these setbacks, Puri’s cheeky one-liners resemble the personality of the hero. While his cameo, as well as actor Ram’s, were received with a thunderous response from the audience.
As a director, Anil Paduri fails to strike a chord as he couldn’t translate Puri Jagannadh’s vision onscreen. Of the performances, Akash Puri, despite his sincerity, has only two expressions and he seems to be in autopilot mode throughout the film. Newcomer Ketika Sharma shows promise and the girl who played Annie is amazing. Ramya Krishnan as a short-tempered cop appears to be the only actor taking her job seriously! Every time I watch a Puri Jagannadh film, I believe that he cannot make a bad film than this. Much to my surprise, he exceeds my expectations all the time!